The Covid variant BA.3.2 has been detected in 23 countries, including the UK
A new Covid-19 variant has been detected in the UK, health officials have confirmed. The BA.3.2 variant, dubbed the ‘Cicada’ variant, is currently being monitored, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
The latest UKHSA data, which looks at positive Covid tests between February 16 and March 1, shows two per cent of cases in England are the BA.3 variant. However, experts warn the new strain is ‘expected to become the dominant strain’ in the UK.
The latest variant has been confirmed in 23 countries since it was first detected in November 2024, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It was declared a ‘variant under monitoring’ by the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 5, 2025.
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According to the WHO, a ‘variant under monitoring’ needs prioritised attention due to characteristics that may pose an additional threat compared to other strains of the virus. Despite this, officials say it is not believed to cause more severe disease or different symptoms to currently circulating Covid strains.
How concerning is the ‘Cicada’ Covid variant?
BA.3.2 is descended from the Omicron variant, which emerged in late 2021. It also carries 70 to 75 genetic changes in its spike protein, the part of the virus that helps it get into cells, according to the CDC, suggesting that the it might evade immunity or that the vaccine may not be as effective against it.
However, the WHO says ‘currently approved COVID-19 vaccines are expected to continue providing protection against severe disease’, despite its differences to circulating strains.
“Overall, available evidence suggests that BA.3.2 poses low additional public health risk compared with other circulating Omicron descendent lineages,” the WHO report added.
It said in December last year that ‘there are no clinical or epidemiological data to suggest that BA.3.2 infection is associated with increased disease severity, diagnostic failure or reduced susceptibility to available antivirals compared with other Omicron descendent lineages’.
It added that the new variants ‘pronounced immune-escape profile’ – its potential ability to evade immunity – warrants continued monitoring from Covid experts.
Will Covid cases rise in the UK?
The latest UKHSA data shows Covid is currently circulating at baseline levels, with positive tests and hospital admissions remaining stable.
Prof Ravi Gupta, of Cambridge University, who advised the UK government during the pandemic, told The Mirror: “This is different from the [Covid-19] viruses we have been dealing with for the last two years.”
Prof Gupta said: “It has been found in the UK, has been increasing in prevalence and I would expect it to become the dominant strain. BA.3.2 is undergoing testing right now. We have been looking at it in terms of immune evasion and the immunity that we’ve all got.”
He added: “Some people have done analysis on this suggesting it may be more prevalent among young children. Children get infections all the time but this might be something to do with the fact that they have never been exposed to Covid vaccines.
“So this is something we’re looking at in the lab to try and work out why. The problem with this is that it is an infection that spreads fast. Eventually it ends up in someone who is vulnerable.”
Symptoms of the new variant are expected to be the same as circulating Covid strains. According to the NHS, these include:
- a high temperature
- a new, continuous cough
- a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste
- shortness of breath
- feeling tired or exhausted
- an aching body
- a headache
- a sore throat
- a blocked or runny nose
- loss of appetite
- diarrhoea
- feeling sick or being sick





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